A/N: I'm so sorry for not updating earlier! I'll try to update more often. But I can't promise anything. Sorry. I realized that the genre should probably be changed to angst because Romano angsts so much it's not even funny. Anyways: I don't own Hetalia, here is chapter one. I hope you like it.

Italy Romano isn't one to whine and long for "the Golden Age". It's not like he's really had one, anyways. However, he can't help but sometimes - even though he'll never admit it - look back to the time when a certain Spanish nation and him had finally started warming up to each other. If someone asks, he'll tell them that the time with Spain was the worst in his life and that he's glad that the bastard's gone without a trace. But he'll be lying. And the words will make his heart ache. His life sucks, that must be it. Because, after all... When he finally had found someone who just might not always compare him to his brother... That person disappeared. It hurts. It hurts so much.

Tsch. It's not like Romano cares anyway. That bastard was just yet another guy who would always compare him to Veneziano. That's what Romano tells himself. But sometimes... Romano wants to know what would have happened if Spain hadn't disappeared all those years ago. He wants to know if he still would have been known as "that grumpy half of a nation whose pretty much useless and acts as a jerk towards everyone and nobody likes", because sometimes the loneliness can get so incredibly, incredibly hard. Even when he's with Veneziano the thought is always there. Your brother is so much better and everybody loves him. Why can't you be more like him? Romano can't. Because he is and will always be Italy Romano; the useless excuse of - hah, not even a whole nation - half a nation. He likes to pretend that it doesn't matter to him. But sometimes, when he's crying alone in the dark corners of his house, he wishes, he wishes... That somebody would tell him to cheer up and ensure him that to them, he's much better than his brother. But it's not like that'll ever happen.

It's with that in mind that Romano comes to Madrid, Spain. Even though the country has been without a personification for quite a while, there are still world meetings there. "To embrace the culture of a country whom you're not spending time with" or some shit like that. Just say that it's too much trouble to host a world conference if that's what you think, bastard! Romano is arguably not in one of his best moods. It's partly because of the fact that he's back in Spain, where so many memories lie... But the day started out bad for him, with cold water in the hotel's shower after waking up late because his brother forgot to wake him up. Now, he's running late, cursing as he tries to navigate through the stream of people going to their work and what not.

"Freaking people, freaking world conference. Freaking stupid brother who couldn't wake me up. Freaking stupid hotel. Freaking stupid city. Freaking stupid country!"

"What's wrong with the country?", a voice asks innocently. Romano jumps and curses, because he had honestly no freaking idea that someone stood there.

"B- bastard! You can't just appear in front of people like that! Goddammit, are you trying to scare me to death or something, you bast-" Then he notices that he's standing in front of a little kid, and trails of. Shit. He can't curse in front of a kid. Not that he gives a flying fuck, but he doesn't feel like explaining for this kids parents why he's swearing in front of their kid.

The kid in question is a boy who can't be more than six or seven. He has green, bright, curious eyes and brown, messy hair. His skinned is a bit tanned, as would be expected from someone who apparently lives in Spain. The boy repeats his question.

"What's wrong with the country, sir? I think that it's a really nice country, you know?" And then the boy tilts his head in that cute way that Romano hates because it looks so much like his brother when he doesn't understand shit and then the little child smiles and Romano can't and- Goddammit. Stupid cute kid.

"Tsch. It's not that I dislike the country or something. I just... I had a fucking bad day, okay? Besides I don't have to explain shit to you! I don't even know you! You know what? I'm not going to tell you anything! It's not like I have some kind of obligation to do it! And besides-" Romano stops when the child visibly jumps back a bit when he screams. The boy bites his lips to stop them from trembling and his eyes begin to water.

"Oh hell no! You're not crying!" Romano then tries to comfort the child, throwing glances at the clock every now and then. Ah, what the hell, he's going to be really late anyways. Might as well... He grabs the child's shoulders and looks into his eyes. "Hey... Don't cry. I'm sorry for saying that..." Then the child looks at him, and practically throws himself into Romano's arms. It comes as such a surprise, that Romano curses. He's not used to comforting children, dammit! What does he look like? Some kind of babysitter? But he can't just ignore a freaking child crying. Gah, why the hell did he have to put up with this shit? He could have stayed home, forced his brother to go to the world meeting, but no, he just had to go to Spain. Stupid country. Stupid city. Stupid world.

Now, things turn a bit awkward. Romano is standing in the middle of a crowd with a little child whom he doesn't know crying his eyes out in his arms. He can't just stand there, so he decides to find another place. After some minutes of cursing and looking, Romano finds a bench not quite in the centre of people, where he sits besides the boy.

"Hey," he says as he begins the most awkward conversation in his life, "Why are you crying?" The boy doesn't answer. Romano normally isn't very patient, but he has to be right now. Because he may be viewed as cold and mean, but he can't leave such a young child alone right in the middle of so many people. Goddammit. Plus... He feels kinda bad for making a little child cry. Not that he'll ever admit it. But just because he has to be patient right now doesn't mean that he is. Romano is just about to snap and yell at the kid when said kid opens his mouth.

"I've- I've lost my parents in the crowd and I can't find them. I t-tried looking but I couldn't-" Once again the little boy breaks down in tears and Romano tries to comfort him. But of course, Romano isn't very good at comforting people. And he can't help but feel that breaking down in tears because of losing his parents in the crowd is kinda... Romano can't quite name the feeling, but it can't just be losing his parents in the crowd that is making him cry. It must be something else. He doesn't want to stick his nose into somebody else's business, but dammit...

"Are you sure it's nothing else?" Romano is almost surprised himself by the way those words comes out of his mouth. The boy looks up at him with his green, wide eyes full of tears, and then begins to cry some more. Romano can't help but inwardly sigh. He's going to lose his patience real soon, dammit.

"Well, you see..." The little boy begins, "My parents... They have screamed at each other a lot during the latest days, and today... They told me and my brother that they're getting a div- duv-"

"A divorce?" Romano asks, a bit relieved that the kid finally starts talking. He's going to be incredibly late to the World Meeting, but then again, he doesn't give a shit. The child nods at his words, and then continues.

"They- They said that I will live with dad and my brother will live with mom, and I won't be allowed to meet mom and my brother! They said it was because grandma doesn't like me! Because I'm not her real grandchild! What does that mean?" And so the coin falls down and Romano gets it. He's not his grandmas "real grandchild". This kid's adopted. And because of that, he won't be able to meet his brother or mother. It brings a painful flashback of when Romano himself was young, and his own grandpa took Veneziano with him instead and left Romano alone. He has no idea how to comfort something like that. But somebody needs to teach this child not to throw himself at random people that he meets. Because not everyone will want to comfort him (if what Romano was doing could be called comforting). Anyways...

"Hey," Romano begins, "Maybe you will be able to talk to your parents about it? I mean they're your fucking parents, they should view you as more important than your grandma, right?"

"Yeah, I guess..."

"That's right! So don't you dare let what your grandmother thinks weigh you down! You just gotta prove that you're way better than her! You don't need her, right?" Suddenly, Romano realizes that he's telling the kid to do the exact same thing that he himself had been trying to do and he can't let such a cute, innocent kid become like him. Alone. So he continues; "But don't act like you don't need anyone at all. Be nice. I'm sure you can do that, right?" As the child nods, Romano lets the shadow of a smile come across his face. Looks like he isn't entirely worthless, after all.

"Good. Let's find your parents then, shall we?" But then, Romano realizes that he still doesn't know the name of the kid. "My name is Lovino Vargas," Romano says, introducing himself with the human name he often use to cover up the fact that he's a nation. "What's your name?"

"My name is Antonio Hernandez Carriedo," the boy says and smiles. Romano can't help but notice how the boy - Antonio - looks really sad when that's how he feels - like, really sad - but his smile is almost as bright as the sun.

In the end, it takes a little more than an hour to find Antonio's parents. When they do, Romano gives them a serious lecture involving teaching their children what to do when they're lost and make sure that they know throwing themselves into the arms of strangers isn't really the best way of achieving a happy ending. In the end, everything turns out fine. In the end, Antonio finds his family again. In the end, Romano says goodbye to Antonio feeling that he has accomplished something good. In the end, Romano is two hours late to the world meeting and ends up skipping it altogether.

The potato bastard ends up calling him, wondering where he is. At the sound of Germany's voice, Romano wants to tell Germany a lot of things, but ends up saying something along the lines of;

"Well, maybe if your stupid freaking world meetings would be a bit more interesting I would have bothered to come. Besides, something more important than your stupid potato meetings came up and I chose that thing instead. Do you have a freaking problem with that?" As expected, the potato bastard does. The phone call turns into a yelling (well, cursing for Romano) match on both sides. But still, Romano ends the day feeling satisfied. He has helped a little kid find his family, skipped a world meeting and had a yelling match with Germany, in which Romano managed to come up with quite... Interesting new terms describing the Germanic nation.

As a country, Romano isn't very likely to remember this single day as distinguished from any other day. He will however remember meeting a little boy named Antonio Hernandez Carriedo, whom he can't help but think reminds him of someone from a very, very long time ago. He will never admit it, but a tiny part of him wishes to meet Antonio again. Because nobody has ever looked at him the way Antonio did.